in some countries this was due to bad fiscal behavior, too much spending, too little taxes like in greece, but in other parts of the eurozone, like spain or ireland, the problem was that there was a bubble in real estate and housing. when the bubble burst, the countries went into a recession. when there is a recession your deficit increase, then you have to bail out banks, financial institutions, and the private losses get socialized. it happened in the u.s. and then you have a surge of public debt. >> these bubbles, either in government spending or in the banks or in the property sector, were essentially fueled by what tends to always drive crises in human history, which is hubris and excess. >> the crisis laid bare the fiscal health of e.u. member states and germany was one of the few nations who had been acting responsibly. >> they had a series of reforms in germany that held down wages very substantially relative to productivity and that made german goods cheaper, more competitive on the world markets. they were not doing that in greece and ireland and in portugal, and even in france